Dramatically lighting a book series

For this weeks blog post, I was tasked with temporarily becoming a commercial photographer and creating a small photographic campaign with three images. Even though I am a photojournalism student, I do have some experience with commercial photography campaigns as well as different types of lighting and I knew just what to photograph. The Amulet series is one that I grew up reading with the first book coming out in 2008 and 9^th and final book coming out 16 years later in 2024. It is a series that I have many fond memories of and has never been something that I feel like I have outgrown even as I got older. For my campaign, I decided to keep it simple and create one photo that showcased a few of the books, one that showcased some of the dramatic aspects that can be found within them, and one that not only showed the unique art style that can be found on the books themselves but also represents a heavily read book that has stood the test of time. Because it is a series that focuses a lot around action and drama, I decided to keep my first two photos relatively dark and I think that worked especially well with my second photo. The dark lighting helps the audience focus less on the background and more on the action that is unfolding on the pages in front of them. With the third photo, I did brighten up my image a little bit because I felt like I wanted to focus less on the dramatic aspects of the book series and more on the art style and condition of the book in the photo. Overall, I do like how the photos turned out, however, if this were a professional client shoot, I think I would change a few things. I would most likely style the books a bit differently, perhaps putting them against a background that better suited their art style and overall vibe. I may also use multiple lights to mess with shadows and possibly focus more on one aspect within the book or to create suspense within my audience.